Quite a peculiar episode of "The Outer Limits"-and that is saying something!-has Eddie Albert and June Havoc as a married couple who happen upon a country road (the very definition of the "wrong turn") when their car is disrupted by a boulder, halting their stop. Havoc slips on a rock, tumbles down the hill, coming to rest with a bum ankle in need of healing. What they can't anticipate is that the tumbleweeds in their vicinity are driven by a force (!!!) that attacks them (!!!), particularly when attempting to start a fire. Albert tosses some of the dry weeds into a slight started fire, with a hysterical Havoc nearby, as they are startled to watch them explode! Later rescued by Arthur Hunnicutt (The Twilight Zone episode, "The Hunt"), who offers them sticks of wood and a farmhouse just a little piece away. Hunnicutt mentions to them that his livestock and cattle were "taken" and he talks of a wife he does hope got away, with Albert and Havoc finding his notebook with intellectual diary entries, commenting on his deteriorating mental state and the force which he did tell them emerged after a meteor landed not far from the farm. I always find Albert very watchable and Hunnicutt (a Howard Hawks guy) has this odd air about him that seems to read that something very strange happened before Albert and Havoc made the unfortunate mistake of turning on the road leading to his farm, noticing a fleeing truck hurriedly escaping. Albert and Havoc (always on the verge of a nervous breakdown) trying to apply logic to such an extraordinary set of circumstances (including a barrage of loudly croaking frogs leaping at them!) cracked me up because it, for some time, appeared highly unlikely there was a way. Then the episode, sure enough, gets to the science of the science fiction, as Albert realizes that this intelligence is a race trying to communicate, attempting to find the means but because of the human race's inability to speak to them (Havoc asks Albert what if they can send but not receive...) failing to successfully do so. As Havoc finds her way out of her hysterics, with Albert keeping a cool head, the two try to speak to the intelligence (which eventually occupies the dead body of Hunnicutt when he is smashed by a falling boulder) but get nowhere. Albert willingly offers his own open mind, cleared through the use of a tied spoon hanging from a rope, moving right and left, but the intelligence realizes that communication just isn't available at that point. Albert's disappointment derives from the hope of learning from the intelligence, beginning an exhilarating correspondence with beings from millions of light years away. Hunnicutt's corpse opening the door to his farmhouse is quite eerie, but because of Albert's curiosity and inquisitive mind, the impact of such a morbidly chilling moment is lessened. "The Outer Limits" definitely offered its own alternative to what science fiction could be, not allowing the material to be overcome by what on its face might be considered laughable. Active boulders, tumbleweed, and frogs pursuing humans, on the surface, if read in a magazine or book, might garner ridicule and disregard, but when Albert reasons that the "force" that arrived from "somewhere not of this earth" looking for a host to use as a source of communication, "The Outer Limits" proves that if viewers remain open-minded and optimistic the sum of all the parts could produce positive results. I think this episode could have easily fallen prey to unintentional hilarity but nonetheless keeps its scientific intellect intact and those involved in the process from start to finish, with help from a game Albert (his enthusiasm and willingness to ride it out in order to hopefully establish a dialogue is a satisfying departure from what happens to Hunnicutt, who determined that the intelligence was malignant and dangerous) in the lead, give us a unique conclusion where the alien intelligence ("pure thought" without a physical form) decide to leave, planning to return when the life on earth is more evolved. Yes, everything returns to normal when the intelligence leaves, so there is a sort-of happy ending for Albert and Havoc. I do believe this episode is misunderstood or perhaps will lose some due to what the intelligence decides to use as a host for movement.
17 Reviews
What a hoot!
krakrazykat1818 April 2018
Failure To Communicate
AaronCapenBanner15 March 2016
Eddie Albert and June Havoc star as Andy and Karen Thorne, a married couple driving along a desert highway trying to find Wild Canyon Road, but instead stumble upon strange phenomena like tumbleweeds or boulders moving of their own volition, even a large group of frogs seem to want to attack them, though the timely arrival of a seemingly friendly farmer named Lamont(played by Arthur Hunnicutt) enables them to escape to his farm, though it is there that they discover that a mysterious alien force is desperately trying to communicate with them, but why? Unpopular episode is really not bad at all, creating a genuinely eerie atmosphere in its isolated locale. Dramatically it never really pays off, but that failure to communicate is cleverly remarked upon. The three-person cast (especially Albert)is fine at least. Worth another look.
Eerie Offering from The Outer Limits
jonesy74-14 February 2011
Warning: Spoilers
To me, this is the most eerie of all the Outer Limits episodes. This seems to be to the contrary of other user reviewers. I must agree that the script is clunky and the special effects are quite medieval. However, the concept of this episode intrigued me strongly enough that I kept coming back to it a number of times in order to fully understand what it offered.
The cast is minimal. 3 people (4 if you count the brief glimpse of someone driving a pickup at the beginning).
The eeriness seems to stem from the fact that the two heroes of this tale are stuck in a canyon devoid of the sounds of any life. We find out later that a force from beyond our galaxy has invaded the canyon and would like to communicate with people from our planet, but can't seem to find a way. So, it/they inhabit(s) tumbleweeds, frogs and rocks in an attempt to dialog, but can't, because they don't know the proper means to understand the human intelligence they sense is present in the canyon.
Eddie Albert and June Havoc are the unfortunates who have stumbled into this forsaken canyon. June senses the presence of the alien immediately, while it takes Eddie Albert a bit to wise up.
Enter Arthur Hunnicut, wonderful character actor (El Dorado, The Twilight Zone), to add thickness to the plot. It's not quite apparent what Arthur is in the story - is he a farmer who inhabits the farmhouse the threesome finally reach or is he someone investigating the phenomenon of the alien presence that has landed in the canyon? Eddie Albert allows the alien presence to enter his psyche in order to discover more about it (them?). The result is something some would call overacting. I personally was swept in by the intensity of Albert's performance in manifesting the alien's forlornness in coming to a planet where it senses intelligence, but can't connect.
There is one unintentionally humorous moment where Albert vows to Havoc that he will lay aside his desire to own a farm. The irony being that, shortly after this series, Albert starred in the sitcom, Green Acres as a city lawyer who is pleased as punch to have purchased a farm, much to the chagrin of his cosmopolitan wife, Eva Gabor.
What I appreciate about this episode is the concept of individuals finding themselves in a place that is remote and away from almost all human contact, only to realize and sense the presence of an invisible being or beings whose presence is being manifest in odd and uninterpretable ways.
The cast is minimal. 3 people (4 if you count the brief glimpse of someone driving a pickup at the beginning).
The eeriness seems to stem from the fact that the two heroes of this tale are stuck in a canyon devoid of the sounds of any life. We find out later that a force from beyond our galaxy has invaded the canyon and would like to communicate with people from our planet, but can't seem to find a way. So, it/they inhabit(s) tumbleweeds, frogs and rocks in an attempt to dialog, but can't, because they don't know the proper means to understand the human intelligence they sense is present in the canyon.
Eddie Albert and June Havoc are the unfortunates who have stumbled into this forsaken canyon. June senses the presence of the alien immediately, while it takes Eddie Albert a bit to wise up.
Enter Arthur Hunnicut, wonderful character actor (El Dorado, The Twilight Zone), to add thickness to the plot. It's not quite apparent what Arthur is in the story - is he a farmer who inhabits the farmhouse the threesome finally reach or is he someone investigating the phenomenon of the alien presence that has landed in the canyon? Eddie Albert allows the alien presence to enter his psyche in order to discover more about it (them?). The result is something some would call overacting. I personally was swept in by the intensity of Albert's performance in manifesting the alien's forlornness in coming to a planet where it senses intelligence, but can't connect.
There is one unintentionally humorous moment where Albert vows to Havoc that he will lay aside his desire to own a farm. The irony being that, shortly after this series, Albert starred in the sitcom, Green Acres as a city lawyer who is pleased as punch to have purchased a farm, much to the chagrin of his cosmopolitan wife, Eva Gabor.
What I appreciate about this episode is the concept of individuals finding themselves in a place that is remote and away from almost all human contact, only to realize and sense the presence of an invisible being or beings whose presence is being manifest in odd and uninterpretable ways.
"How can you animate a dead weed?"
classicsoncall10 June 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Renegade tumbleweeds terrorize a couple traveling on their way to inspect a prospective farm property for purchase, while a lonely farmer calmly states that they're all trapped by some unseen force that won't let any of them leave. The first time Karen Horne (June Havoc) got hysterical it nearly knocked me out of my seat! Totally overwrought and way out of proportion to a situation that called for cooler heads to prevail and figure things out. The answer to those crazed tumbleweeds was offered up on a silver platter when husband Andy (Eddie Albert) threw a burning stick at a couple and they exploded into nothingness. Why not take that approach with all the rest? A Biblical plague of frogs arrives in due course, but they dissolve in water as if it were acid, so a little rain would remedy things a lot if that occurred. In a stunning mental leap of epic proportions, Andy surmises that there's an alien intelligence at work that's unable to break through Earth's defenses to make its intentions known, so he tries to hypnotize himself into a state of communication with the mysterious force. The future 'Green Acres' star does manage to make contact, but the story concludes with no real resolution as the Hornes simply get back into their earlier disabled car and drive away. The story leaves catatonic farmer Lamont (Hunnicutt) as an afterthought, best described by Andy as being "as dead as those tumbleweeds".
Creepy even today
nickenchuggets19 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Cry of Silence is part of the Outer Limits' sometimes maligned second season, and the only follow up season the show had. In a way, I'm glad the show was cancelled after only 2 seasons before it was given a chance to gradually get worse, but as always, people find plenty of things to hate about the show still. A good example would be the episode Behold Eck, in which a two dimensional being is trapped in our three dimensional world, and an eye doctor with a clear understanding of how the ocular organ perceives things is the only chance of saving him. While I like that episode because of its unique idea, I can understand why a lot of people hated it. Even Stefano himself didn't think very highly of Eck. But I do have one question for many others who have reviewed this already: how can you possibly hate this one? It does what Outer Limits does best, which is offering strange science fiction stories that don't have a lot of backstory to the viewer. This might frustrate some people because even by the end of the episode, they never tell you what exactly happened, but I say, imagining what it could have been is what sets this show apart from the others. If the writers just told the audience what it was, it would rob the audience of the air of mystery. The episode itself is pretty terrifying. It follows a couple on their way to some vacation spot, when they hit a rock with their car and come to a halt. After the car refuses to start up again, they go down into a desert ravine area where ominous tumbleweeds on the horizon seem to track their every move. Most people will probably think it's hilarious how one of the tumbleweeds actually physically attacks the guy's wife and appears to follow the both of them, but it is creepy how they appear to move on their own, being possessed by a strange force that the show never reveals to the viewer. Later on, they encounter a hermit played by Arthur Hunnicutt who tells them he lives in a secluded area that is absolutely crawling with the tumbleweeds and they won't let him leave either. They stay in his house for a while, but once they realize thousands of frogs croaking that are also possessed by the alien force, they panic and try to leave. Almost making it to their car, a boulder is dislodged from where the car is perched and kills the hermit. Disturbingly, he also gets taken over by the force after this, even though he's supposed to be dead. Toward the end of the episode, the husband determines the only way to find out what this force is and what it wants is to allow it to enter himself, so it can channel its thoughts through him. The mysterious entity tells him it only came to earth because it wanted to know more about the planet, but is unable to talk with humans because they aren't evolved enough. The episode ends with them getting in their car and driving off. This is one of the few Outer Limits where the adversary is not an alien, but a force, even though you can argue it to be both. It is unsettling though, especially when the living rocks start slamming into the hermit's house.
Strictly average
fjaye1 September 2012
Warning: Spoilers
A mediocre grade for a mediocre episode. One would think that alien beings--sophisticated enough for bodiless intergalactic travel--would be able to deduce that rocks and tumbleweeds would not be the best vehicles for communicating with beings that interact with each other.
It's a slow-moving story; several times I wondered how it would be stretched to fill the time slot, because too much of the action in these "close encounters" was repetitive. Thirty minutes would have been enough.
I agree with the other reviewers who thought the show's ending was weak and arbitrary; if Albert's character could verbalize the alien thoughts, why would the alien not hear June Hovoc's responses? Humans have ears, after all.
It's a slow-moving story; several times I wondered how it would be stretched to fill the time slot, because too much of the action in these "close encounters" was repetitive. Thirty minutes would have been enough.
I agree with the other reviewers who thought the show's ending was weak and arbitrary; if Albert's character could verbalize the alien thoughts, why would the alien not hear June Hovoc's responses? Humans have ears, after all.
Killer Weed -- Highly Recommended.
pwoodring13 May 2015
That is, the weed would help cheer on this goofiness! Meet Dr. Thorne. Brilliant beyond measure. He determines, with almost nothing to go on, that a probably extra-galactic intelligence has come to earth to set up shop and is attempting to communicate through tumbleweeds, frogs, and rocks. He is an amazing man. But he can't figure out where a road is when he's directly across from it. He drives too fast on a narrow dirt road and smashes into a rock. He thinks he's going to start farming in the middle of Vasquez Rocks. And he married a hysterical shrew with a voice that could split the atom. Nonetheless, his brilliance sparkles. When he is about to engage his incisive intelligence, he turns slightly away from the camera and looks up -- your can HEAR his mental mechanism churning away like an Enigma machine.
Sure, the threats are genuine, out there in the desert. The tumbleweeds are horribly intimidating and frightening, as tumbleweeds so often are. And who wouldn't be scared into catatonia by an army of bullfrogs, croaking, croaking?
Mrs. Thorne will make you want to slit your throat. She is knowing and attractive, and starts out seeming pleasantly sarcastic and even a bit witty. But then she says the most amazing thing, something like "In a cathedral, you dare not even whisper -- it would be a desecration. Here, I feel as though if you shouted, the sun would die." Nathanael West, watch your back, man!! After that astonishing statement she just screams, cries and trembles her way to the impotent conclusion, about which the less said the better.
If I sound too critical, I'm just pointing out the worst groaners. There's lots to love in this.
Sure, the threats are genuine, out there in the desert. The tumbleweeds are horribly intimidating and frightening, as tumbleweeds so often are. And who wouldn't be scared into catatonia by an army of bullfrogs, croaking, croaking?
Mrs. Thorne will make you want to slit your throat. She is knowing and attractive, and starts out seeming pleasantly sarcastic and even a bit witty. But then she says the most amazing thing, something like "In a cathedral, you dare not even whisper -- it would be a desecration. Here, I feel as though if you shouted, the sun would die." Nathanael West, watch your back, man!! After that astonishing statement she just screams, cries and trembles her way to the impotent conclusion, about which the less said the better.
If I sound too critical, I'm just pointing out the worst groaners. There's lots to love in this.
Eddie Albert Is Outstanding
StuOz13 July 2014
Eddie Albert and his screaming wife encounter killer weeds in the outback.
Does this sound like the dumbest thing you have ever heard? Probably. But the realistic acting of Albert holds the whole thing together. This would have been the dumbest thing ever made if Albert were not cast in the lead role.
The screaming wife will get on your nerves but the hour keeps moving with clever turns and suspense.
Around this time Albert also appeared in the pilot episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea titled: Eleven Days To Zero.
Does this sound like the dumbest thing you have ever heard? Probably. But the realistic acting of Albert holds the whole thing together. This would have been the dumbest thing ever made if Albert were not cast in the lead role.
The screaming wife will get on your nerves but the hour keeps moving with clever turns and suspense.
Around this time Albert also appeared in the pilot episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea titled: Eleven Days To Zero.
Pretty dumb.
planktonrules2 July 2012
The previous episode, "The Demon With a Glass Hand", is one of the best shows of "The Outer Limits" series. Oddly, the very next one, "Cry of Silence" is among the worst--with a really cheesy 'alien' attack--one that might make you laugh! Yes, it is THAT dumb!
Eddie Albert and June Havoc play a husband and wife who are apparently moving out in the country to buy a farm! This, and Albert driving a Lincoln make this seem a bit like a pilot episode of "Green Acres" when it began! But it turns out that this country is a lot worse than Hooterville--the place is possessed by a force that controls tumbleweeds, rocks and later frogs which terrorize the couple! Yes, frogs and tumbleweeds and rocks! It's all pretty silly if you ask me! It did improve a bit over the course of the episode but that isn't saying a hole lot!
Eddie Albert and June Havoc play a husband and wife who are apparently moving out in the country to buy a farm! This, and Albert driving a Lincoln make this seem a bit like a pilot episode of "Green Acres" when it began! But it turns out that this country is a lot worse than Hooterville--the place is possessed by a force that controls tumbleweeds, rocks and later frogs which terrorize the couple! Yes, frogs and tumbleweeds and rocks! It's all pretty silly if you ask me! It did improve a bit over the course of the episode but that isn't saying a hole lot!
For a Moment I thought I was watching Green Acres
thejcowboy223 June 2016
Warning: Spoilers
My first viewing of the newest of the sci-fi phenomenon on the ABC network The Outer Limits. In this episode Eddie Albert and his wife June Havoc are lost in a desolate valley. Tumble weeds seem to grow and surround them along with rocks and frogs. In it's simplistic way you feel the anxiousness of their plight as our in cognizant couple are lost and terrified over inanimate objects with out any rational explanation. You just don't know what's in store for our frazzled friends. Maybe a hundred Mr. Haney's will appear outside. This story holds your attention that's for sure. My first Outer Limits experience was a satisfactory one.
Way Off Course
a_l_i_e_n7 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
An alien life form capable of controlling all manner of animal, vegetable and mineral causes problems for a couple trapped in the valley where it currently resides. While most of the effects are rather unsophisticated (Eddie Albert, for example, laughably fighting off a tumble weed tossed into his face), to his credit, director Charles Haas does come up with a couple effectively eerie moments. In one, sentient weeds assemble into an encroaching wall. In another cool scene, boulders engage in an ongoing assault on a cabin.
Another problem: the alien in the story is a formless, voiceless invisible entity. So, in order to figure out the truth behind it's presence there, Eddie Albert's character is written with near superhuman powers of intuition stretching beyond what even a willing suspension of disbelief can accommodate.
Also, while it's an interesting idea for Albert to hypnotize himself so the alien can communicate through him, the entity's ramblings don't impart much in the way of revelation, nor do they provide us with a satisfying conclusion to the story.
June Havoc's performance as Albert's ridiculously overwrought wife is particularly bad. With one hysterical outburst after another, her frequent shrieks of "ANDY!!!" become positively grating. This is a terribly written and directed character serving only as a device for exposition so Eddie Albert has someone to talk to besides himself.
A hint of mystery can be a haunting thing to end a story on, but this episode is too long to conclude with such an ambiguous wrap-up. It just leaves one feeling dissatisfied. Indeed, "Cry Of Silence" might well have worked better as a half-hour "Twilight Zone" episode than it does in the hour long format of "The Outer Limits".
Another problem: the alien in the story is a formless, voiceless invisible entity. So, in order to figure out the truth behind it's presence there, Eddie Albert's character is written with near superhuman powers of intuition stretching beyond what even a willing suspension of disbelief can accommodate.
Also, while it's an interesting idea for Albert to hypnotize himself so the alien can communicate through him, the entity's ramblings don't impart much in the way of revelation, nor do they provide us with a satisfying conclusion to the story.
June Havoc's performance as Albert's ridiculously overwrought wife is particularly bad. With one hysterical outburst after another, her frequent shrieks of "ANDY!!!" become positively grating. This is a terribly written and directed character serving only as a device for exposition so Eddie Albert has someone to talk to besides himself.
A hint of mystery can be a haunting thing to end a story on, but this episode is too long to conclude with such an ambiguous wrap-up. It just leaves one feeling dissatisfied. Indeed, "Cry Of Silence" might well have worked better as a half-hour "Twilight Zone" episode than it does in the hour long format of "The Outer Limits".
Attack Of The Killer Tumbleweeds
telegonus9 October 2010
Cry Of Silence is the worst episode of The Outer Limits I've seen thus far. It features a city couple stuck out in the middle of the country who are set upon by tumbleweeds, which attack their faces and bodies. Fortunately, these pesky weeds don't like fire, so the couple get somewhat of a respite when they light a fire. They meet up with a gaunt, fatalistic local farmer who offers them shelter but tells them there's no escape from their predicament. He's stuck, too. Someone or something is up to no good.
No sooner does the plague of tumbleweeds abate than are the couple set upon by thousands of attacking frogs.Is this a Biblical prophecy come true or invaders from another planet? Maybe a little of both. The ending is tiresome and unenlightening, and the narrator makes points about what we have just seen of the kind I've heard done better in other, earlier episodes of the series. Neither Eddie Albert nor June Havoc gives a good performance, but then who could with such a wretched script?
While watching this turkey I kept on asking myself if this was a "parody episode",--you know, a send up of the more serious entries--but apparently it isn't. The humor, and there's a lot of it here, is, so far as I can tell unintentional. This is the kind of episode legendary hack director Ed Wood would have made had he been able to have made it in the mainstream, actually got a script he wrote for a TV series accepted, was given a chance to direct it as well. It's that bad.
Me, I'll take Plane 9 From Outer Space over this one. It's plot is far more lively, with most of the actors seemingly clueless as to the awfulness of the lines they're given to deliver, without the seriousness of the players in this one, which gives that cult film a kind of near hypnotic, out of this world gravitas wholly lacking in Cry Of Silence.
No sooner does the plague of tumbleweeds abate than are the couple set upon by thousands of attacking frogs.Is this a Biblical prophecy come true or invaders from another planet? Maybe a little of both. The ending is tiresome and unenlightening, and the narrator makes points about what we have just seen of the kind I've heard done better in other, earlier episodes of the series. Neither Eddie Albert nor June Havoc gives a good performance, but then who could with such a wretched script?
While watching this turkey I kept on asking myself if this was a "parody episode",--you know, a send up of the more serious entries--but apparently it isn't. The humor, and there's a lot of it here, is, so far as I can tell unintentional. This is the kind of episode legendary hack director Ed Wood would have made had he been able to have made it in the mainstream, actually got a script he wrote for a TV series accepted, was given a chance to direct it as well. It's that bad.
Me, I'll take Plane 9 From Outer Space over this one. It's plot is far more lively, with most of the actors seemingly clueless as to the awfulness of the lines they're given to deliver, without the seriousness of the players in this one, which gives that cult film a kind of near hypnotic, out of this world gravitas wholly lacking in Cry Of Silence.
Green Acres vs. the Aliens
Hitchcoc17 January 2015
This is really bad. Eddie Albert and his wife are going to start up a farm (except Ava Gabor isn't around). The travel on a deserted road and run into a rock. The car isn't damaged but won't start. The wife, in getting out of the vehicle, slips and falls down a ravine and while she will recover, she sprains her ankle making it impossible to get back up the hill. While they are contemplating what to do, they are attacked by carnivorous tumbleweeds. Well, that's stupid enough. Arthur Hunnicutt, the grizzled old character actor, comes along. When the weeds are set on fire they explode. A path is cleared and they head for the old guy's house. His chickens, pigs, cows, and wife seem to be victims of all this. Not long after this the tumbleweeds go away and they are attacked by enormous bullfrogs. I could go on. Hunnicutt seems to be turning into a zombie and is little help. He does, however, keep a journal that sounds like it was written by a Harvard scholar. Eddie tries to figure things out and there are efforts to escape. The conclusion is totally unsatisfying and almost embarrassing. This followed the Glass Hand episode. What a drop in quality.
Too original for the average TOL fan.
fedor821 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
One of the very best episodes, the only typical and predictable thing about it being its low rating, a result of the usual fear of original ideas and a hatred of real sci-fi. TOL fans need their goofy monsters and dashing heroes, simplistic plots and generic situations because that is where they feel most comfortable: all of that constitutes their security blanket. It is ironic that this episode has fear of the unknown as one of its themes, since most TOListas fear plots they'd never encountered before.
Admittedly, this type of set-up is just my cup of vodka, my kind of horror. I like isolated settings such as the desert, I like weird and baffling goings-on, and unlike most TOListas I prefer it when I don't immediately understand what the threat is. In fact, I prefer not to know as long as possible - within reason, of course. TOListas can keep their goofy alien monsters and cop heroes, whereas I will stick to the unknown and the original. To each their own. For me, good TV, for TOListas, bad TV: everyone's happy.
This TZ-like episode is sort of like "Birds" meets any UFO-in-a-meteor-falls-somewhere-in-the-wilderness movie. Except that "Birds" sucks because there is no sense of menace and no motive, birds being too cute to scare me - even when they are being angry birds - and far too disinterested in humans to go on a random rampage. The "legendary" feather-brained Hitchcock movie is one of the dumbest, dullest "horror classics" ever, an overrated turkey that's aged not so much like fine wine but as horse's manure. This TOL episode is so much better. Killer birds? I'll leave that to TOL fans...
Tumbleweed? Rocks? Frogs? Now you're talking! (OK, the frogs were too cute to be scary, just as Hitchcock's silly angry birds.) Behind it all is an alien visitor which the audience never gets to see, and therein lies one of the reasons TOListas hate this episode: they have zero imagination. (TOListas have no imagination, not the aliens.) Furthermore, what annoys TOListas even more is that the conclusion is kind of vague; there is no clear-cut speech by an alien nor does the narrator spell everything out in a bland case of corny exposition. A bit of mystery still remains in the air, which is how sci-fi horror should be.
Not that there are no flaws. For example, I could easily understand why some people might snicker at certain scenes, because the premise teeters on the verge of being too silly. Yet the episode never becomes (too) silly. The performance by the leading lady is quite good, and I am more than satisfied with her casting. As for her beau, he is a nepotist, but one of the solid ones. Early on in the episode he isn't quite there yet, but improves later on. The farmer adds a lovecraftian touch to the whole thing, which is never a hindrance.
I would have preferred something other than aliens being behind the mystery, but this isn't a major complaint at all.
Check out my TOL list, with reviews of all the episodes.
Admittedly, this type of set-up is just my cup of vodka, my kind of horror. I like isolated settings such as the desert, I like weird and baffling goings-on, and unlike most TOListas I prefer it when I don't immediately understand what the threat is. In fact, I prefer not to know as long as possible - within reason, of course. TOListas can keep their goofy alien monsters and cop heroes, whereas I will stick to the unknown and the original. To each their own. For me, good TV, for TOListas, bad TV: everyone's happy.
This TZ-like episode is sort of like "Birds" meets any UFO-in-a-meteor-falls-somewhere-in-the-wilderness movie. Except that "Birds" sucks because there is no sense of menace and no motive, birds being too cute to scare me - even when they are being angry birds - and far too disinterested in humans to go on a random rampage. The "legendary" feather-brained Hitchcock movie is one of the dumbest, dullest "horror classics" ever, an overrated turkey that's aged not so much like fine wine but as horse's manure. This TOL episode is so much better. Killer birds? I'll leave that to TOL fans...
Tumbleweed? Rocks? Frogs? Now you're talking! (OK, the frogs were too cute to be scary, just as Hitchcock's silly angry birds.) Behind it all is an alien visitor which the audience never gets to see, and therein lies one of the reasons TOListas hate this episode: they have zero imagination. (TOListas have no imagination, not the aliens.) Furthermore, what annoys TOListas even more is that the conclusion is kind of vague; there is no clear-cut speech by an alien nor does the narrator spell everything out in a bland case of corny exposition. A bit of mystery still remains in the air, which is how sci-fi horror should be.
Not that there are no flaws. For example, I could easily understand why some people might snicker at certain scenes, because the premise teeters on the verge of being too silly. Yet the episode never becomes (too) silly. The performance by the leading lady is quite good, and I am more than satisfied with her casting. As for her beau, he is a nepotist, but one of the solid ones. Early on in the episode he isn't quite there yet, but improves later on. The farmer adds a lovecraftian touch to the whole thing, which is never a hindrance.
I would have preferred something other than aliens being behind the mystery, but this isn't a major complaint at all.
Check out my TOL list, with reviews of all the episodes.
Really good idea wasted
hung_fao_tweeze8 January 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I've noted on my other reviews that I had quit watching Outer Limits after the 4th episode of a dismal and disappointing season 2. Thus, I never saw this during its original outing. I had heard some scathing commentary from my grade school friends who still bothered to watch about monster tumbleweeds. This concept did not compel me to want to return to Outer Limits the following week. I thought it was so sad that a great series like season 1 anticipated had become so banally tepid. Thanks to DVDs and the promise I made to myself at a young age to own at least season 1, I was finally able to view this presumed train wreck. The basic premise, which is actually quite good, is that an alien species is trying to communicate with someone (anyone at all) and their transmission signal is having a very strange effect on various objects on Earth. A fantastic idea. But here it translates to tumbleweeds trying to cling to you like static clothing, frogs converge and 'stampede' as only frogs can, and rocks avalanche onto you at convenient times. Why any of this would necessarily happen at all is never explained. Of course, Eddie Albert and wife do not know that this is supposed to be an alien race merely trying to say hello and end up with a mentally exhausted local man in his little homestead in the middle of a desert for a panic filled night. Like the rest of dreary season 2, an idea that had such promise goes no where and the aliens essentially give up and Eddie and wife go back to their car and drive away. (note: check out the segment where the rocks avalanche on them. The mentally crippled old homesteader seems to time himself to get hit on purpose, is killed, but continues to breathe nevertheless.) Nearly all of my '4' rating is for the great concept alone. The missing '6' is for my ire that this was wasted away by what is essentially the 'Perry Mason' production staff.
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